Esri DATA

Network Appliance and Esri Team to Deliver High Performance, Cross-Platform Data Serving Technology to GIS Users

Alliance Enhances Data Manageability in Mixed UNIX/Windows® NT Environments and Increases Performance, Availability of Esri Applications

August 10, 1998 - Santa Clara, CA -- Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), the leading provider of dedicated data-access and storage appliances, today announced a marketing alliance with Esri, the premier developer of geographic information system (GIS) software and spatial database tools. For the first time, Esri teams with a dedicated, data-access solutions provider, recommending Network Appliance's industry leading file servers - known as "filers" - to its customers.

"Our relationship with Esri allows us to make our high-performance, cross-platform data infrastructure solutions easily available to the GIS industry," said Charlie Simmons, vice president of marketing for Network Appliance (NetApp). "As GIS developers face increasingly mixed UNIX/NT computing environments, highly-reliable multiprotocol solutions will be critical to easy management and universal access to data-intensive projects."

"Esri customers have unique needs - they routinely operate on large data files and can experience expensive downtime because of time-consuming file manipulation and management," said Dean McComber, Esri's director of hardware marketing. "By combining Esri applications with NetApp® filers, our customers will be able to improve data availability. We look forward to this alliance providing additional valued solutions to the Esri community."

Overcoming Multi-Platform Challenges
Mixed UNIX/NT computing environments - such as GIS development - present challenges for sharing data and maintaining data integrity. The NetApp/Esri relationship will enable Esri users to leverage Network Appliance™ filers' high-performance solution to centralize data and reduce unnecessary downtime in searching for files, as well as drastically improve the performance of redraw and display of files. Additionally, NetApp's multiprotocol and patent pending SecureShare™ technologies will enable Esri users to effectively share data in a mixed environment with absolute data integrity and without performing cumbersome file transfers.

Metro - the nation's only elected regional government, which serves the Portland, Oregon metro area - uses NetApp filers and Esri's Spatial Database Engine, ArcView GIS and ArcInfo products in its Data Resource Center, which is responsible for forecasting transportation and land-use needs. Metro's Data Resource Center maintains information about the region's land, population and economy and provides state-of-the-art mapping and data services to local governments, citizens and businesses.

"Our GIS specialists require high-performance, cross-platform solutions to do their jobs," said Tony Paolucci, responsible for Metro's Data Resource Center IT infrastructure. "We store huge data sets using Esri's Spatial Database Engine on NetApp filers for outstanding accelerated application performance. And our GIS specialists using ArcView GIS and ArcInfo can share Shape Files and Coverages between UNIX and NT using NetApp's multiprotocol filers, giving them universal access to files and increasing their productivity."

"The new NetApp/Esri relationship will allow users to have continuous access to Esri data files," Paolucci continued. "The superior solutions that Esri and NetApp deliver clearly make them Metro Data Resource Center's GIS products of choice."

About Network Appliance
Network Appliance develops and markets dedicated network storage servers for UNIX, Windows and the World Wide Web. These appliances deliver fast, simple, reliable and cost-effective access to data stored in the network or across the Internet. The company pioneered the concept of the "network appliance," an extension of the industry trend toward dedicated, specialized products that perform a single function. NetApp filers and NetCache™ appliances are based on the company's innovative data access operating system known as Data ONTAP™ software and on standards-compliant hardware. More information is available on the Internet at www.netapp.com.

Contact Information

Network Appliance Italy Srl
Centro Direzionale Torri Bianche
Palazzo Larice
20059 Vimercate MI

Telephone ++39 39 6858483
Fax ++39 39 6858485

e-mail cstuart@netapp.com